Buyers to check seafood quality

Update:
February, 11/2012 - 11:27

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Harvesting Tra fish in the southern province of An Giang. Many countries will send inspection delegations to Viet Nam this year to appraise the quality of export seafood products. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vu

HA NOI — Many countries would send inspection delegations to Viet Nam this year to appraise the quality of Vietnamese export seafood products, the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD) said.

NAFIQAD said the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) announced it would launch an annual inspection of seasoned fish fillet processing factories this month.

Dried seasoned fish fillet is one of Viet Nam's key seafood export products to the South Korean market. Others included crab, molluscs, tra fish and mackerel.

Last year, Viet Nam was the third largest exporter of dried fish to South Korea, reaching US$5.95 million in value. The first and second largest exporters were Russia and China, respectively.

In coming years, Viet Nam seafood exporters should further improve and control the quality of seafood products to compete with rivals on the South Korean market, the Vietnamese department said.

Nguyen Nhu Tiep, NAFIQAD's head, said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) planned to send a delegation to Viet Nam in May to inspect food safety controls of aquaculture producers.

The FDA would also inspect food safety conditions at facilities that produce and raise baby fishes, process seafood products for export to the US, produce feed for fisheries and sell animal drugs.

In September, the European Union would send two delegations to inspect aquaculture, exploration and seafood processing chains, he said.

Inspection delegations were sent regularly by countries that import Vietnamese seafood products as part of their supervisory activities. The inspections allowed them to look at potential concerns, such as warnings about antibiotic and chemical residues in Vietnamese seafood exports to the US and Japan, Tiep said

NAFIQAD had promoted activities to control seafood quality at all phases of production, from aquaculture to catching seafood in the wild, processing and export activities to further improve quality in order to maintain relations with existing export markets and expand to new markets in North Africa and South America, he said. — VNS